Hiddleston and Alonia Wikia
|} |} The Commonwealth of the Second Confederation of Hiddleston and Alonia, also known as Hiddleston and Alonia, New Hiddleston and Alonia, and H&A, is a micronation geographically located in the southeast Pacific Ocean. Hiddleston and Alonia was established as the second micronational headquarters of Hiddleston Street and the first to be established through an agreement with the State of Nedland. The early migration of Polynesians to New Zealand brought the development of the distinctive Māori culture of the islands. The first European explorer spotted New Zealand in 1642, and nearly two hundred years later the British laid claim to New Zealand as a colony. With Kiwi independence in 1947, the new nation remained stable until 2016, with Hiddleston and Alonia's separation from New Zealand. Starting in mid-June 2016, Hiddleston and Alonia has been an independent micronation and has seen significant depletion in their involvement with the MicroWiki Community. Hiddleston and Alonia became renown for their private sector, Hiddleston Street, and subsequent stock exchange, the QMSE. With the announcement of the resignation from most public activities in mid-June, Hiddleston and Alonia sold much of the public sector of Hiddleston Street. Etymology The etymology of the nation's name is generally unknown as has not been released to the public. However, it is thought that the Alonian name is mostly pure gibberish. History Early New Zealand Text from: New Zealand#History reused under CC-BY-SA The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and his crew in 1642. In a hostile encounter, four crew members were killed and at least one Māori was hit by canister shot. Europeans did not revisit New Zealand until 1769 when British explorer James Cook mapped almost the entire coastline. Following Cook, New Zealand was visited by numerous European and North American whaling, sealing and trading ships. They traded European food, metal tools, weapons and other goods for timber, Māori food, artifacts and water. The introduction of the potato and the musket transformed Māori agriculture and warfare. Potatoes provided a reliable food surplus, which enabled longer and more sustained military campaigns. The resulting intertribal Musket Wars encompassed over 600 battles between 1801 and 1840, killing 30,000–40,000 Māori. From the early 19th century, Christian missionaries began to settle New Zealand, eventually converting most of the Māori population. The Māori population declined to around 40 percent of its pre-contact level during the 19th century; introduced diseases were the major factor. Ongoing unrest, the proposed settlement of New Zealand by the New Zealand Company (which had already sent its first ship of surveyors to buy land from Māori) and the dubious legal standing of the Declaration of Independence prompted the Colonial Office to send Captain William Hobson to claim sovereignty for Great Britain and negotiate a treaty with the Māori. The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840. In response to the New Zealand Company's attempts to establish an independent settlement in Wellington and French settlers purchasing land in Akaroa, Hobson declared British sovereignty over all of New Zealand on 21 May 1840, even though copies of the Treaty were still circulating throughout the country for Māori to sign. New Zealand, still part of the colony of New South Wales, became a separate Colony of New Zealand on 1 July 1841. The colony gained a representative government in 1852 and the first Parliament met in 1854. In 1856 the colony effectively became self-governing, gaining responsibility over all domestic matters other than native policy. (Control over native policy was granted in the mid-1860s.) Following concerns that the South Island might form a separate colony, premier Alfred Domett moved a resolution to transfer the capital from Auckland to a locality near the Cook Strait. Wellington was chosen for its harbour and central location, with parliament officially sitting there for the first time in 1865. As immigrant numbers increased, conflicts over land led to the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s and 1870s, resulting in the loss and confiscation of much Māori land. In 1907, at the request of the New Zealand Parliament, King Edward VII proclaimed New Zealand a dominion within the British Empire, reflecting its self-governing status. Accordingly, the title "Dominion of New Zealand" dates from 1907. In 1947 the country adopted the Statute of Westminster, confirming that the British parliament could no longer legislate for New Zealand without the consent of New Zealand. New Zealand was involved in world affairs, fighting, as part of the British Empire, in the First and Second World Wars and suffering through the Great Depression. The depression led to the election of the first Labour government and the establishment of a comprehensive welfare state and a protectionist economy. New Zealand experienced increasing prosperity following World War II and Māori began to leave their traditional rural life and move to the cities in search of work. In 1975, a Waitangi Tribunal was set up to investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty, and it was enabled to investigate historic grievances in 1985.